MTC (Machine-Type Communication) is a type of data communications including one or more entities not requiring human interaction. Namely, MTC refers to a concept that machines, rather than terminals (or user equipments (UEs)) used by humans, communicate with each other by using an existing wireless communication network. A machine used for MTC may be called an MTC device, and MTC devices include various devices such as a vending machine, a machine measuring a water level of a dam, and the like.
An MTC device has different characteristics from those of a general terminal, so a service optimized for MTC may be different from a service optimized for human-to-human communications. Compared to a current mobile network communication service, MTC may be characterized by mutually different market scenarios, data communication low costs and efforts, a potentially large number of communication terminals, wide service coverage, low traffic per terminal, and the like.
The number of MTC devices supported by a single base station is expected to be much greater than the number of terminals. Due to general M2M (Machine to Machine) service characteristics, communication is highly likely to be simultaneously performed on a plurality of MTC devices.
Thus, there is a possibility that network resources are insufficient, and a technique for effectively handling network signaling loads for MTC devices is required.